'What, to the American Slave, Is Your 4th of July?'
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/what_to_the_american_slave_is_your_4th_o
f_july_20150701/
Posted on Jul 1, 2015
By Amy Goodman
This image of Frederick Douglass dates to the 1860s. (Wikimedia Commons)
"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?" asked Frederick Douglass
of the crowd gathered at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, N.Y., on July 5,
1852. "I answer," he continued, "a day that reveals to him, more than all
other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which lie is the
constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham."
Douglass escaped slavery in 1838 and became one of the most powerful and
eloquent orators of the abolitionist movement. His Independence Day talk was
organized by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Sewing Society. Douglass
extolled the virtues of the Founding Fathers, those who signed the
Declaration of Independence. Then he brought the focus to the present, to
1852. He said:
"I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high
independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The
blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The
rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence,
bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that
brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This
Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man
in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him
to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony.
Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today?"
Of course, the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Sewing Society had no
intention of mocking him. Proceeds from their events were devoted primarily
to supporting Douglass' newspaper. They championed Douglass, and saw the
need to take action, whatever action they could muster. The United States
was, at the time of the speech, less than a decade away from a brutal civil
war. The war would formally start with the Confederate bombardment of Fort
Sumter, just off the coast of Charleston, S.C.
Independence Day is a fitting time to reflect on the role that grass-roots
organizing for social change has played in building this nation. The
horrific massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in
Charleston, S.C., also compels us to question just how far we have
progressed toward the ideals enshrined in that document signed on July 4,
1776, the Declaration of Independence.
It was in Charleston that a man named Denmark Vesey, a former slave who had
won his freedom, had planned an expansive slave rebellion, slated to take
place in 1822. The plot was exposed, and Vesey, along with 34 alleged
co-conspirators, was hanged. Vesey was one of the founders of Charleston's
AME church in 1818, which became Emanuel AME Church, where Dylann Roof is
alleged to have murdered nine people this past June 17, among them the
church's pastor, who was also a state senator, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney.
The storied church, called "Mother Emanuel," has been central to the lives
of African-Americans in Charleston and beyond for close to two centuries.
So, when evidence pointing to Roof's racist motivation surfaced, including
an Internet-posted manifesto along with numerous photos of him with the
Confederate flag, pressure mounted to remove that flag from the grounds of
the South Carolina state Capitol in Columbia, S.C. The movement was swift,
with companies like Wal-Mart and Amazon pulling Confederate memorabilia from
their shelves. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley immediately ordered all
Confederate flags be removed from Alabama Statehouse grounds. But as the
U.S. and South Carolina flags on the Capitol Dome flew at half-mast after
the massacre, the Battle Flag of the Confederacy, at a Confederate war
memorial on the Statehouse grounds, continued to fly at full mast.
On Friday, June 26, more than 5,000 mourners crowded into an arena in
Charleston for the funeral of the Rev. Pinckney. President Barack Obama gave
a moving eulogy, ending by singing "Amazing Grace" as the congregation
joined in. The next day, at dawn, Bree Newsome, a 30-year-old
African-American woman, scaled that 30-foot flagpole in Columbia with helmet
and climbing gear, and took down the Confederate flag. James Tyson, a fellow
activist who is white, spotted for her from the base of the pole.
After unhooking the flag, Newsome said from her perch, "You come against me
with hatred and oppression and violence. I come against you in the name of
God. This flag comes down today!" After she descended, the two were
arrested, and the flag was back up within an hour. But their action went
viral, with prominent civil-rights leaders and organizations endorsing the
nonviolent direct action. Newsome and Tyson face up to three years in prison
and a $5,000 fine. Not only does the flag still fly, but since the
Charleston massacre, at least half a dozen African-American churches have
burned down throughout the South. Investigations have begun, but whatever
the cause of the fires, they have ignited fears of a recurrence of a brutal
history.
Frederick Douglass' words on that distant July 4th holiday have been given
new life by Bree Newsome, 163 years later: "It is not light that is needed,
but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the
whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened;
the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation
must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its
crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced."
Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
Amy Goodman is the host of "Democracy Now!," a daily international TV/radio
news hour airing on more than 1,200 stations in North America. She is the
co-author of "The Silenced Majority," a New York Times best-seller.
(c) 2015 Amy Goodman
Distributed by King Features Syndicate
http://www.truthdig.com/ http://www.truthdig.com/
'What, to the American Slave, Is Your 4th of July?'
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/what_to_the_american_slave_is_your_4th_o
f_july_20150701/
Posted on Jul 1, 2015
By Amy Goodman
This image of Frederick Douglass dates to the 1860s. (Wikimedia Commons)
"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?" asked Frederick Douglass
of the crowd gathered at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, N.Y., on July 5,
1852. "I answer," he continued, "a day that reveals to him, more than all
other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which lie is the
constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham."
Douglass escaped slavery in 1838 and became one of the most powerful and
eloquent orators of the abolitionist movement. His Independence Day talk was
organized by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Sewing Society. Douglass
extolled the virtues of the Founding Fathers, those who signed the
Declaration of Independence. Then he brought the focus to the present, to
1852. He said:
"I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high
independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The
blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The
rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence,
bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that
brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This
Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man
in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him
to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony.
Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today?"
Of course, the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Sewing Society had no
intention of mocking him. Proceeds from their events were devoted primarily
to supporting Douglass' newspaper. They championed Douglass, and saw the
need to take action, whatever action they could muster. The United States
was, at the time of the speech, less than a decade away from a brutal civil
war. The war would formally start with the Confederate bombardment of Fort
Sumter, just off the coast of Charleston, S.C.
Independence Day is a fitting time to reflect on the role that grass-roots
organizing for social change has played in building this nation. The
horrific massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in
Charleston, S.C., also compels us to question just how far we have
progressed toward the ideals enshrined in that document signed on July 4,
1776, the Declaration of Independence.
It was in Charleston that a man named Denmark Vesey, a former slave who had
won his freedom, had planned an expansive slave rebellion, slated to take
place in 1822. The plot was exposed, and Vesey, along with 34 alleged
co-conspirators, was hanged. Vesey was one of the founders of Charleston's
AME church in 1818, which became Emanuel AME Church, where Dylann Roof is
alleged to have murdered nine people this past June 17, among them the
church's pastor, who was also a state senator, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney.
The storied church, called "Mother Emanuel," has been central to the lives
of African-Americans in Charleston and beyond for close to two centuries.
So, when evidence pointing to Roof's racist motivation surfaced, including
an Internet-posted manifesto along with numerous photos of him with the
Confederate flag, pressure mounted to remove that flag from the grounds of
the South Carolina state Capitol in Columbia, S.C. The movement was swift,
with companies like Wal-Mart and Amazon pulling Confederate memorabilia from
their shelves. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley immediately ordered all
Confederate flags be removed from Alabama Statehouse grounds. But as the
U.S. and South Carolina flags on the Capitol Dome flew at half-mast after
the massacre, the Battle Flag of the Confederacy, at a Confederate war
memorial on the Statehouse grounds, continued to fly at full mast.
On Friday, June 26, more than 5,000 mourners crowded into an arena in
Charleston for the funeral of the Rev. Pinckney. President Barack Obama gave
a moving eulogy, ending by singing "Amazing Grace" as the congregation
joined in. The next day, at dawn, Bree Newsome, a 30-year-old
African-American woman, scaled that 30-foot flagpole in Columbia with helmet
and climbing gear, and took down the Confederate flag. James Tyson, a fellow
activist who is white, spotted for her from the base of the pole.
After unhooking the flag, Newsome said from her perch, "You come against me
with hatred and oppression and violence. I come against you in the name of
God. This flag comes down today!" After she descended, the two were
arrested, and the flag was back up within an hour. But their action went
viral, with prominent civil-rights leaders and organizations endorsing the
nonviolent direct action. Newsome and Tyson face up to three years in prison
and a $5,000 fine. Not only does the flag still fly, but since the
Charleston massacre, at least half a dozen African-American churches have
burned down throughout the South. Investigations have begun, but whatever
the cause of the fires, they have ignited fears of a recurrence of a brutal
history.
Frederick Douglass' words on that distant July 4th holiday have been given
new life by Bree Newsome, 163 years later: "It is not light that is needed,
but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the
whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened;
the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation
must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its
crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced."
Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
Amy Goodman is the host of "Democracy Now!," a daily international TV/radio
news hour airing on more than 1,200 stations in North America. She is the
co-author of "The Silenced Majority," a New York Times best-seller.
(c) 2015 Amy Goodman
Distributed by King Features Syndicate
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